Tag: exam malpractice

The Federal University of Technology Minna, Niger State, has fired seven professors, its chief security officer and 120 casual workers.

Findings by Saturday PUNCH revealed that the affected professors were those said to be on contract after exceeding the retirement age in the institutions they first worked.

A source, who confided in our correspondent, said, the decision to relieve the professors of their duties, was to pave the way for fresh lecturers to be brought into the system.

“The vice chancellor is leaving soon, he does not want to leave any burden for his successor; that is why he has taken this initiative,” the source said.

No reason was, however, given for the disengagement of the CSO of the institution even though unconfirmed reports said that he was found involved in an irregularity in the award of contract for the sewing of uniforms for security men and women in the school.

The other category of workers also fired was also in line with the outgoing VC’s plan to put things in proper shape before bowing out, the source said.

When contacted, the institution’s Head of Information Unit, Mrs. Lydia Legbo, confirmed the development, adding that the professors had to be eased out of the system after the expiration of their contracts.

She said, “Some of them have been in the system for over 10 years.”

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The National Examination Council says a total of 1,283,485 candidates committed examination malpractice during the Senior School Certificate Examination from 2010 to 2016.

Within the same period, about 7,410,030 candidates sat for NECO examinations.

The Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of NECO, Prof. Charles Uwakwe, said this in Abuja, on Thursday, during an event titled ‘Sensitisation Exercise for Officials of Examination Bodies’, which was organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission.

The Registrar, who was represented by Dr. Ikechukwu Anyanwu, said the year 2010 had the highest number of exam malpractice cases with 577,139 recorded while the lowest was in 2014 with a total of 34,744.

He noted that in 2016, only 43,905 cases of exam malpractice were recorded out of the 1,022,474 candidates that sat for the examinations.

Uwakwe added that the drop in cases of examination malpractice was a clear testimony of NECO’s fight against corruption.

He identified forms of exam malpractice to include bringing in prohibited materials into the examination hall, ‘dubbing’, which takes the form of tattoos, missiles, micro chips; use of contractors or mercenaries, walkie-talkie, mobile phones and writing on the chalkboard by supervisors amongst others.

The NECO boss added, “Recently, we realised that some of these supervisors allow phones and they are used in taking pictures of question papers and then the candidates send the pictures straight to websites and before you say ‘Jack Robson’, the website would have solved the questions and then they return the answers to them.”

Uwakwe said schools were not doing enough in preventing examination malpractice, adding that many school proprietors were more interested in exploiting students.

He stated, “All that is needed to write the NECO exam is N11,350 but many schools charge between N30,000 and N50,000. What do you do with the rest of the money? They call it administrative fee and all kinds of things and yet we get N11,350.

“You go to schools during an examination and the principal will insist that those who haven’t paid school fees will not write exams unless they pay and we insist that we have no contractual agreement with schools.”

Also speaking, the Founding Chairman, Exam Ethics Marshal International, Prof. Ike Onyechere, said student, who failed exams and were allowed to gain admission into higher institutions, would only become quacks.

“When a candidate, who failed exams, is allowed to become a doctor or a lawyer, what you will have is a quack and when society is filled with such people, we will all be in danger,” he added.

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A junior secondary school student in Imo, on Tuesday, confessed to serial examination malpractice and vowed never again after listening to a lecture on the ills of corruption and examination malpractice.

“I have spent all my life in school cheating and indulging in examination malpractice, but today I will serve as an apostle to carry the message against exam malpractice,” the student (name withheld) said.

The lecture, organised by African Initiatives against Corruption and Examination Malpractice, was titled `Catch Them Young.’

“I have lived all my life from primary till this moment cheating and violating exam ethics.

“I was deeply touched when the NGO delivered this lecture and I feel so guilty of all their messages because their message is for people like us”, the JSS 1 student of Baptist High School Owerri said.

Earlier, President of the NGO, Mr Francis Abioye told students of the school that corruption and examination malpractice were detrimental to national growth.

“Nigeria cannot boast of graduates who can face their contemporaries in the outside world because they were given free hand to cheat.

“Every day we see and hear buildings collapsing, while patients are being mishandled in various hospitals because those so-called professionals were products of cheating”, he said.

He said that over 2, 000 students and teachers in Imo had so far signed the NGO’s anti corruption inducement form.

Abioye said the NGO would carry its message against corruption and examination malpractice in the school system to various schools across the country.

Abioye was supported by a renowned educationist, Prof. Okee Okoro of Imo State University during the lecture held to mark the 2017 World Anti Corruption Day.

The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Nasarawa State chapter, has identified lack of political will by the government at all levels to prioritise education as a major cause for examination malpractice in the country.

The association also identified desperation for certificates, corruption, low quality and dysfunctional education system as other reasons for the examination malpractice.

Mrs Charity Manzuche, the state Chairman of the association and a former commissioner for Women Affairs and Proprietor of Shalom Christian Academy, Akwanga, said that the only therapy for examination malpractice is to promote and deliver quality and functional education.

She said, “Education is expected to be a transformative tool but on the contrary, we are not getting the best, why because we promote certificate more than knowledge, hence the genesis of examination malpractice in our national landscape.

“It is also because of lack of coherence between the education policy, traditional values and the cultural practices as well as lack of total commitment of the government to educational matters especially on allocation of resources to the sector.

“Poor welfare package for teachers which make them feel that they are second-rated personnel in the economy are some of the reasons fuelling examination malpractice in schools.”

According to her, examination malpractice in schools is counter-productive to the purpose and goals of the nation.

Manzuche explained that was why the country’s economy got worse because the educators who are expected to be positive models are now promoting and serving as mercenaries for miracle centres.

She called on civil society and other relevant stakeholders to take drastic steps to ensure that examination malpractice is curbed in schools and the society at large.

The chairman, therefore, called on the government to support private schools with grants in order to improve on the standard of education in the state.

Mr Oyebisi Davidcrown, the Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Educational Empowerment and Orientation (CEEO Nigeria), an NGO, also said that examination malpractice had affected the education sector negatively.

He called for all hands to be on deck in order to address the menace for the overall development of the education sector and the country at large.

The chief executive officer advised students to always take their studies seriously in order to excel in their academic pursuit so as to justify their parents and government huge investment in their training.